Fried Cheese Sandwich
• Goal is crispy on the outside with lovely soft, warm bready texture on the inside
• Never squash the sandwich or you’ll lose the texture that this is made this way to achieve
• Margarine won’t give the crispness that butter does, and it will make it oily and heavy
• White bread is the bread of choice for this sandwich, you can use other bread, it just won’t be quite the same texture
• Can be done with only butter as a filling if no cheese on hand
Ingredients for 1 Sandwich
2 slices white bread
real butter for spreading on the outside of each slice (see above)
Cheese of choice – whatever you like as long as it will melt (Jarlsberg, Cheddar, Swiss etc)
Optional
Thinly sliced onion
Thinly sliced tomato
Anything that goes on a pizza could work, don’t layer stuff too thickly though
Method
Never squish the bread – slice thin slices of butter to avoid squishing
Stove top or electric pan
1. start with a cold pan
(it’s easier to stack the sandwich, if everything is ready and can work a bit faster, you can use a hot pan)
2. Generously (not too much) butter one side of each slice of bread (complete coverage)
3. Place 1 slice of bread, butter side down in pan
4. Starting with cheese, layer ingredients on that slice in the order you like them
5. Place other slice of bread, butter side up, on top of fillings
6. Turn pan onto medium hot (electric pan 4-6 mark) If there’s lots of ingredients, cover the pan to cook the first side so the heat goes right through everything)
7. If the butter on top of bread is starting to melt, it’s a good sign the heat has gone through the middle, meaning it might be time to turn it
8. As it’s cooking, gently, using an egg lifter, check to see if the underside is golden brown
9. When underside is golden brown, using egg lifter, carefully but quickly, flip the sandwich over. If the cheese is melted it will make it easier
10. Fry the other side uncovered to keep the crispiness. (covered will lose the crisp)
11. When brown on both sides, serve. Turn off heat.
12. Cut in half without squishing breads.
Here is a downloadable PDF for you.